Project Execution

Doing Our Work: Continuous Integration

We execute the project according to the plan agreed upon initially. Each project has multiple phases.    At each phase, we analyze low-level software requirements to further clarify requirements.  Programming and testing are conducted iteratively, which leads to reduced development time and cost. 

This iterative process allows us to increase the quality of the finished software development project considerably.

ELEKS practices a continuous integration approach.  All new programming code is verified continuously for correctness and for integrity with existing functionality.  This insures that we always have “the code that works” in the repository.  In addition, we set aside time before the end of each phase to conduct system and regression testing of “frozen-code”.  

Keeping the Customer Informed

According to a mutually agreed on plan, we desire to demonstrate software versions we create to get feedback from customer project champions.  This helps to implement necessary changes earlier on in the development cycle.  This also allows the customer to see tangible results rather than merely reading a report of us telling the customer how we feel we have progressed.  Seeing your software first hand – in action – is the true test. 

Controlling the Project  

ELEKS measures project performance and progress using Earned Value Management (EVM), which evaluates a project’s overall progress against scope, schedule and budget constraints.  We hold regular internal team meetings to discuss the status and the steps that are needed to ensure that there is understanding of project objectives among the team’s members.  The project manager regularly issues project status report and discuss the issues/risks during regular status conference calls with the customer. 

Communication

Communications is paramount to a good working relationship, which in turn, insures that the project will be a success.  We encourage a friendly collaboration style when considering and discussing your comments, wishes and notes.  We do our best to keep you informed on the progress of a given project and provide prompt responses to your requests.

To facilitate the communication process, we offer various options: phone, Skype, e-mail, fax, and instant messenger. High-priority calls are forwarded to cellular phones for faster results.  We do take this seriously.

Although we respect and support the formal paperwork, we encourage direct communication between our staff, such as project managers, team leaders, analysts, developers, testers and customer personnel.  To avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation, a special mailing list is created for each project.  ELEKS team members and you are signed on to this list.  This in turn allows everybody to receive information simultaneously.  More importantly, e-mail messages of this kind cannot be ignored or lost.

Risk Management

Risks analysis is a mandatory requirement for starting each project.

The purpose of risks analysis is to reveal at early stages possible risks that may appear during the project implementation and to develop the plan of their minimization. The years of experience have helped us to create a broad knowledge base that allows us to manage risks more effectively.

Account managers and project managers hold regular meetings to discuss project status and potential project risks.  A report is generated and circulated to the executive team.  Our well-established escalation procedure allows unplanned issues to reveal more quickly so that corrective measures can be put in place to minimize risks to the overall project.

User Acceptance

At the end of the project we deploy the final version for final user acceptance procedure. If any critical changes are identified, these are implemented prior to project go live.